Earthdawn

Sunday Night Gaming Inc

May 26, 2017 Game Session

The plan for tomorrow is to reconnoiter down the Laneway towards the Screaming Fountain, then scale the wall near the edge of the Twists (as far away as possible from Fountain), then down next lane to the War Zone. About 65 yards in, a pressure plate is found and Betsey disarms it. Another plate is found 250 yard in, Betsey again disarms it. Now a quarter mile in, four more plates across the way – three more successes from Betsey and the group simply avoids the last one. Now a half mile in, eight plates are found – Betsey disarms one, but Kevin sets off another, five bone shamblers come over the wall to attack, they are dispatched easily in three rounds.

Now an hour in (fountain still three-quarters of a mile away), four steel statues are visible about 50 yards away. Sabrina flies toward them, Mike follows with a huge sigh. The statues move and surprise Sabrina, knocking her unconscious with one blow! Maria gets off a Razor Orb, totally eviscerating a statue in one shot (78 damage!). Three rounds after that, the statues are now scrap. They find the section of the wall they are looking for, and hop over into the Twists. Fifteen minutes later, they enter the War Zone.

April 29, 2017 Game Session

BNB arrives at Haven, sell of a whole bunch of Espagra scales, keeping enough to be used in cloaks for Kirault and Kirker (and to pay for the cloaks). The group has no opinion if K and K let the town know of their generousity (hey – any PR is good PR).

They head to the Delver’s HQ to talk with Barclay (male dwarf) where Tom and Kevin gleefully join the Delvers (and there was much rejoicing). They begin their research of The Twins – Barclay believes he knows where information might be stored, asks Sabrina to go with him, regroup in about two hours. In the meantime, party goes to Vardeghul’s store. Tom asks the lackey behind the counter specific questions about specific “they who shall not be named” beings, and the lackey sheepishly runs to get Vardeghul. Waiting for the T’Skrang, Tom casts a detection spell in the store, and all sorts of klaxon alarms go off. Vardeghul storms in and demands “WHO CAST A SPELL IN MY STORE???” – the party throws Tom under the bus, and he is ejected from the store! The rest of the party manages to placate Vardeghul and begs (aka pays her off {-5000 silver}) to get information about The Twins. (Meanwhile, Tom casts a “window” spell from outside so he can at least see what is going on.) They leave, go get lunch, and go back to the Delvers.

Barclay has some news – he and Sabrina have found that the party will want to find the Book of Merrox – it has some power over Horrors in general, but legend has it that there is a particular spell in the Book that is extremely powerful when cast at the Twins.

Now heading to Torgak’s to try to find magic items, but none are there that suit the party’s needs right now. Spread word around Haven that BNB is looking for adventurers (at least Circle 6, “heavily combat oriented”) and that applications will be accepted for a few days.

Back to Vardeghul’s (Tom volunteers to stay outside), she has found that the party should try to find the Book of Merrox, and that it’s last known location was in the War Zone.

March 25, 2017 Game Session

BNB delivers the scroll case (from Mr Black) to Vaare in Syrtis. Vaare inquires as to how the party got acquainted with Mr Black, and they give him the Cliff Note’s (and blame Chumanna for most of it). Mike buys two Espagra cloaks, leaving one cloak and Espagra scale armor behind to be enhanced as much as possible (cloak will take 12 days, armor will take 77 days). The party enlists the help of two Circle 8 Weaponsmiths to work on the armor.

They decide the best route to Parlainth is boat to Tansiarda, then another boat to the end of the Serpent River, where they walk the rest of the way.

During the first night of the walking portion of the trip, they are surprised by a group of orcs who have very good plans, but they’re not even close to a match for the party. All but two are killed rather quickly. The two that surrendered (let’s call them Kirault and Kirker) are in awe of the party. They asks to join (well, at least “can you take us to Haven without killing us please?”). There is also a battle with espagra, but it’s really not worth mentioning much.

Money count – party currently has 1376 silver pieces, and a large collection of gems that are worth over 47,000 silver pieces.

Sep 24 2016 Game Session

(5pm) Glondorf determines that Aktuh (Black circle with White X) is the one who tried to mark him. The group decides to heal up and spend the night here. The next day, Glondorf tries Direction Sense to locate Aktuh – it fails because (he believes) that she isn’t within range. Maria sends a message to Ahemy and Scattill (at Throal Library):

M> Have you heard of any Horror activity between Ishkarat and Throal in the last few months?”
AS> Can you hear me? How does this thing work? We don’t know of any Horror activities in this area and we are checking with other (end of message).
M> Limited word count – please be succinct.
AS> Oh – didn’t know – no Horror actions, will ask around.

The group takes the Dragon Express back to Ishkarat, landing a day and a half later (10 to 15 minutes outside of town). Glondorf again tries Direction Sense, but he doesn’t think he beats her spell defense.

Getting within sight of Ishkarat, and something looks ‘wrong’. Three red X’s have been drawn on the gates (darker at the top, lighter going down). Group tries a message to the Mayor and Taylor (“WTF?”), but they get no response. Kevin sends the falcon up very high to look over the walls and sees no movement in the streets at all. People start looking at the gate via Astral Space – good thing Maria rolls a 28, otherwise she would have received a monstrous headache – and now the party is really worried. Betsey confirms that the X’s are made with blood.

“Oh Good – you’re back!”

The voice is now easily recognizable as Babs – she’s in one of the towers (about 20 feet up inside the tower) looking at the party from an arrow slit.

“The city isn’t empty. The people are still here. I asked them to make the X’s. It seemed like a nice decoration at the time.”

(Tom chalks a message to Chumanna – “Babs in town in tower”.)

“I have a present for you”, says Babs. The gate opens and Taylor walks out, her eyes glazed over. As soon as the gate closes, she appears to regain her senses. She has no memory of any events from the past week; she only remembers hearing the gate close. Maria casts Karma Cancel on Babs. Kevin uses Great Leap to attempt to break down the gate by ramming it – not necessarily a great decision as he hits the gate with a soft “thud” (also he does make Babs chuckle just a bit). Tom casts his now famous “circle of protection” around the group (freaking 56 mystic armor!).

Kevin scrapes himself off the gate, then starts to dose the gate with oil – while Tom attempts to summon a Spirit on the other side of the gate (trying to open it from the inside). Maria casts Aura Strike at Babs, causing damage and a wound!

“Hey! I give you a present and you thank me with spell damage? I’m insulted! If that’s what you want, I’m happy to oblige!” And with that, four of the Elementals (from a few days ago) morph up from the ground and start swinging. Kevin lights the oil on the gate (a rather large BOOM) and Great Leaps away to the top of the tower where Babs is. Maria casts Combat Fury on Mike, and Sabrina hits Babs with an arrow (ouch!).

Babs opens the front gate and casts a spell causing swirling winds around her, but she continues to take damage from the party. She appears to be getting very mad, and casts a VERY nasty spell which hits Taylor (no damage), then Sabrina (whack), then Mike (SERIOUSWHACK), then Betsey (whack), then Mike again (and he’s out cold!). Babs then screams “DON’T F*CK WITH ME!”

Kevin comes out of the tower and attempts to grab Babs (who is starting her “winking out” process) but fails to get and maintain contact. Babs eventually fades away, and the elementals fade away as well.

Kevin goes back to the gate – the wood portion has been blown away (taking the red X’s as well), but the stone infrastructure is still intact. The group determines that the Astral effect is also gone – a fact confirmed when the Mayor comes to the gate a minute later with a confused look on her face. “What happened?” is all she can get out.

August 27, 2016 Game Session

Mike (aka Glondorf) considers talking to Betsey to ask Mr. Black about “transferring” a Horror Mark from Chumanna to himself. She agrees, and a conversation begins. Mr. Black has never heard of this feat, and thinks that if Mike can pull this off, the Party will not only become Legendary (for doing something that has never been done before), but also make the Party “prime enemy number one” to ALL Horrors.

Mr. Black says that if you can do this, I might want to hire your services – if you survive, of course.

Mr. Black also suggests that the area around the end of the Servos River is mostly uninhabited, so that wouldn’t be a bad place to try your experiment. He wishes the party luck (“you’re going to need it!”) and they fly away.

Landing at 8am, they setup for the ritual, which will take eight hours.

During Hour Five, Kevin’s falcon sees a group of four adolescent ogres about 200 yards away. Kevin asks Chumanna to roar loudly in that direction, hoping to scare the crap out of the ogres and prevent a fight. Chumanna agrees, and as the party collectively covers their ears, lets out a blasting roar. The ogres peek out of a set of trees, see Chumanna, and RUNAWAY screaming!

During Hour Six, Maria decides to look at Astral Space. She sees vibrations – sort of like looking at a pond which is now starting to get small waves. After Hour Seven, the waves are much more choppy (to the point where anyone in a ten foot boat or smaller would have difficulty staying in the boat).

At Hour Eight, the ritual concludes (with the party casting a whole bunch of defensive spells in preparation, just in case). The result of the ritual is such that Aktul becomes aware of the attempt to break the mark, and she attempts to use the ritual to mark Glondorf. She rolls a 26, and Mike fends off the mark with a 33!

The rippling of Astral Space now starts to be seen coming into Normal Space – followed by a collection of six elemental-type forms, surrounding the party from about 10 yards away. The resulting fight is a difficult one (Kevin knocked unconscious, Maria actually takes damage!), with Chumanna’s lightning breath saving the day!

Jan 30 2016 Game Session

Continuing the conversation with Chumana ….

“I have only seen Horrors in my dreams, never in person. Rubio came from the mountains near Scytha (northeast of Throal – Tom can confirm the stories of dragons living in that area). There is no reason to believe that Rubio was tainted – but the only thing that makes sense is that he was ‘altered’ in some way when he last visited me.”

The party decides to go to the Scytha mountains. Chumana can transport them there, but not until she rests. They leave the next day and arrive at the mountains two days later. Upon arrival, they see lots of snow covered mountain tops and no clear area to land until just about the last second. They find a cave a short distance away and … gee, maybe we should tell someone that we’re here? Chumana lets out a serious of musical tones into the cave, and a response can be heard after about 10 seconds.

“We’re not expected, but it’s okay to enter” says Chumana.

They enter the cave, which is very dark and has slimy walls. They seem to travel for 10 to 15 minutes, with Chumana sounding a few times along the way. In the distance, they can see some flickering lights, and as they get closer they realize that they are about to enter an area about the size of the SuperDome, with the walls lined with acres and acres of gems (reflecting and generating light). Betsey succeeds in controlling her urges to go swimming.

A HUGE black dragon (twice the size of Chumana) flies towards the party and starts a ‘conversation’ with Chumana. After a few minutes, she/he/it turns to the party.

“Why?” spoken in a very dark, deep male voice.

Tom goes into an extensive story about the history of the party (with pictures and arrows and a paragraph on each picture), and continues with raising Chumana from the last fight and horror marks and ….

“Why you here?” interrupts the dragon.

Betsey realizes that she has an empty slot in Speak Languages, so she attempts to learn the dragon’s language (she needs to roll a 10 and gets a 32!!)

“Why have you come here?”

Cliff notes version of Chumana’s story, looking for Rubio family, the Egg, horrors, etc. They ask Chumana to give permission to Mr Black to look at her astrally, and she does.

“Oh My…”

The party then gives permission for Mr Black to look at all of them, and grants them the same. His pattern is as close to perfect as anyone has ever seen.

Mr Black: How can I help?

Party: Is Rubio still alive?

Mr Black: No. He died about 15 months ago (timeline matches) defending his family from a Horror or Construct (we couldn’t tell which).

Party: Chumana, which dragon did you try to find when Rubio left?

Chumana points at a random in the distance.

Mr Black: That dragon would not have known about Rubio’s death at the time. It was kept quiet for months to protect the family in case another Horror / Construct visited. And before you ask the question – ‘yes’, we did know of the meetings between Rubio and Chumana, and we were quite happy and the prospect of their future together.

Party: How could the Egg get affected?

Mr Black: Knowing only what you have told me and not having the Egg here to examine, the only logical answer is that Rubio must have been the source. He was a fairly quite and reserved young dragon, so if he acted any differently, that would only add evidence to him being in trouble or otherwise ‘affected’.

Party: Wonder if we can find out when / how / where Rubio got marked. They decide to ask Mr Black if he recognizes the syllables “ahk” and “mey”.

Mr Black: Yes, I know what those are. Do you really want to know?

Party: YESYESYES!!!

Mr Black: Aktuh and Maylota. Your lives are now in great danger. I cannot allow you to bring those Two into this cave, but maybe there is something I can do to help. I can cast a spell to allow you to train at an accelerated rate (can increase four items per day) and I can allow you to stay here for three or four days. I suspect that knowing what you know now, you won’t have to search The Two out – they’ll find you.

Legend Points given to the party (huzzah!) and spending begins. You should now have 102,400 total LP.

Jan 2 2016 Game Session

KiLi arrives on the scene and looks at the dragon. She confirms that its pattern is completely messed up. A Message is sent to Vaare asking for help in any way (beastmasters, Throal Library, Chumana (who is still unresponsive), dragon experts, whatever he can find). KiLi suggests that they should bring the dragon to a holding cell for now.

KiLi is convinced that what can be seen of the Baby Dragon’s pattern indicates that it is some combination of dragon and horror. If it continues to grow, it is more likely that it will become a Horror than it will a Dragon.

Vaare finally responds to Messages:
Vaare: Have you talked to Chumana?
Party: We have tried, no response.
Vaare: I just got a message – she’s despondent.
Party: Do you have any suggestions?
Vaare: Try another message.

Party sends Message to Chumana stating that they have the baby. Chumana finally responds and asks to meet the group east of Ishkarat (at their somewhat standard meeting place) in about an hour. Tom is able to summon a spirit which will “hold” the baby for the transport (it takes three tries, but the spirit agrees and will stay around for 11 hours!).

Maria Messages Throal Librarians asking them if they have heard of the baby dragon’s scenario before – they will investigate and get back to her when they find anything.

The party arrives at the meeting spot in about 45 minutes, and they only have to wait another 10 or so before Chumana arrives.

Mike: Congratulations – you are the mother of a bouncing baby WTF.
Chumana (puff of disgusted air out of nose): I know.
Betsey: If you knew, how did the baby get here?
Chumana: In my inital reactions and shock, I let my guard down and the baby got away.
Tom: Can you fix the baby?

And then – from out of nowhere – comes a voice that the party has learned to despise – it’s Babette, who has materialized behind Chumana (out of sight of the party).

Babette: There’s nothing to fix – the baby is fine!

Chumana immediately turns and breathes fire at Babette. She is completely engulfed in flames, yet appears completely undamaged seconds later. Tom begins weaving to (what will now be called) Circle of Protection White around the party to prevent Babette and Chumana from entering (he eventually finishes and gets a 29 for the Circle). Mike and Kevin start looking at each other making small silent gestures, and quietly and slowly move to surround the baby.

Babette: Chumana, can I have the baby now?
Cumana: (stuttering, desperate and defensive) You know that the contract is void!
Babette: It’s now or else.

Initiative is rolled. :)

Round 1

Chumana attempts to grab Babette with both front claws, only the left one succeeds, but still does some slight damage.
Tom tells the spirit “we’re going to kill the baby – please change color so we don’t hit you by mistake” (and it does).
Betsey casts Dampen Karma on Babette and succeeds!
Kevin takes the first swipe at the baby and hits.
Maria casts Combat Fury on Mike (of course).
Sabrina hit Babette with an arrow. Babette returns the favor, hitting Sabrina with Icy Mace and Chain, pulling her down to the ground. Babette also Sticks Chumana to the ground.
Mike also swings and hits the baby. Both Chumana and Babette scream “WHAT DO YOUTHINK YOU’RE DOING????”

Round 2

Babette runs around Chumana and attempts to break the Circle. She fails miserably, so in her fury she casts Fireball at the entire party (and it hurts!).
Taylor hits the baby, then Kevin does – and Kevin follows up with a momentum attack – its head rolls away from its body!
Chumana sees this, breaks free of the hold, and flies straight into the Circle, hoping to take it down – it dims significantly but manages to hold (“shields now at 15% Captain!”).
Maria reattunes.
Mike attempts Creature Analysis against Babette, but fails.
Sabrina fires another arrow and hits Babette.
Betsey gives Tom (currently unconscious from the Fireball) a healing potion.

Round 3

Tom casts Astral Sphere at Babette (rolled a 28) and hits!
Sabrina tries another arrow, but this one misses.
Babette notices the baby’s head on the ground, taps the Circle (to make sure it’s still there) and then focuses all of her attention at Chumana:
“This is all YOUR fault! If you had done what you were supposed to do, NONE of this would have happened. DIE!!!!!!!”
She points fingers from both hands at Chumana and pure visible power comes from her hands and strikes Chumana square in the chest. Chumana drops to the ground DEAD from that one attack.

Babette looks visibly drained, and opens her transportation light. She turns towards the party and whispers “I will deal with you later”.
Mike uses Creature Analysis again, this time succeeding. He finds out that Babette’s Karma Step is 14 and her Physical Defense is 22. Kevin tries to grapple Babette before she can enter the light, but fails. Maria casts a Mind Dagger and causes some damage, but not enough to prevent Babette from retreating.

The party now considers using Last Chance (spell) on Chumana (Kevin goes into hiding since he threw the death blow). Tom casts it, but the healing gained isn’t enough to bring Chumana back. He tries a second time, but no better result. Betsey then uses a Last Chance potion, and CHUMANALIVES!

Sabrina summons an Earth Elemental and asks it to dig a hole 20 feet deep. They put the baby in the hole, and Tom casts Pass Ward on the body (password is “knowledge is power” and it will last for seven years). Sabrina then asks the Elemental to cover up the hole, and she casts Purify Earth in the area.

Tom gives Chumana a healing potion, and she slowly awakens.

Chumana: “That was supposed to be a baby dragon. I can never forgive myself. I have nothing to live for.”
Tom: “Babette took your baby and you have nothing to live for? Not even vengeance? What is this ‘contract’?”

“In my dragon clan, marriages and families are arranged. My ‘mate’ had been determined for me many years before we even met. His name was Rubio. He was nice enough, always treated me well. I didn’t love him, but that didn’t matter. About two years ago, while the arrangements were being made for the union, he visited me at night and we decided to fly out by ourselves to get to know each other better. He seemed a little different that night – what I thought was a calm and level-headed being was now slightly reckless, but in a fun and dangerous way. It was almost as if he was acting while in public, and this was the real dragon (or maybe I had this backwards – I still don’t know). Anyway, I won’t go into the details, but a few months later I realized that I was pregnant. I went to find Rubio to tell him the great news – but he was gone. No word to his family – no notes – no signs – just gone. I haven’t seen him since that crazy night.

“Fast forward about six months, and I receive a rather startling and unexpected visit from a female human (Babette). At the time she seemed nice enough, and she knew alot about me and my pregnancy. She said that she was asked to deliver a message from Rubio (GM note – he used a Message spell similar to your chalk). He had decided to fly far away from the clan for a week or so, in order to clear his head and prepare for the start of his adult life. He didn’t tell anyone because he didn’t want anyone to worry about him. That’s where the message ended. Babette could not tell me where he was, nor could she tell me if he would ever come back. What she did know is that somehow he knew about the pregnancy – and she wanted to help if she could. She had drawn up a note which promised to help raise the baby, and she was willing to make it a blood oath. She knew so much about me and about Rubio that I trusted her, so I agreed to the contract and signed in blood. That was possibly the biggest mistake of my life.

“A few months after that, I start having very strange dreams. I can’t really describe them, but they are very disturbing – to the point where I can’t sleep, and when I do sleep, I feel as if I’m flying in a daze instead. Then I start having blackouts. I think that’s about the time you visited Ishkarat.”

September 6 2015 Game Session

The party continues their research about Horrors and specifically The Twins. They find some more information about Lord Redstone (he lived in the Syrtis area about 425 years ago), but they aren’t sure if that is very helpful or not. With no better alternative, they decide to head towards Syrtis, taking the road though the mountain (about a 2 to 2.5 day travel).

Right around sunset of the first day, they see another caravan in front of them. One of the wagons appears to be damaged, and two humans appear to be having a small argument. Kevin sends the wolf into the brush to check for others (just in case). Maria uses Astral Sight and determines that none of these people are Adepts. The party decides to ignore this other caravan and continue their trip, going around without getting involved. The two having an argument finally heats up to the point where they start throwing punches at each other, and the rest of the caravan group gathers around to try to stop the fight. The party continues to try to ignore the situation – up until the point where one of the fighters shouts “NOW” – and then the party realizes that this was a “trap” and they are surrounded.

Sabrina fires and arrow and kills one in one shot. Betsey knocks down one of the fighters (Byrronnis) and breaks his leg. Mike jumps one of the caravan group trying to run away and eviscerates him. Kevin great leaps and lands on Byrronnis, breaking several of his ribs (but he doesn’t stick the landing, so no style points). The other combatant (Perskell) gives up sheepishly.

A quick interrogation follows – the perps had no idea that they were going to be taking on a formidable party, and they are really really really sorry. Mike tells Perskell to get naked (which he does) and to walk back to Throal. They turn their attention to Byrronnis, only to find out that he’s bled to death. The party decides to take the leftover caravan (which not so surprisingly wasn’t damaged at all) and continue on to Syrtis.

About 15 minutes later, a small pinprick of light appears a few feet in front of the wagon. The light starts to grow in size, then form the shape of a human – and then she steps through the light. The party presumes (quite correctly) that this is Babette.

The dialog that follows is quick and witty on both sides. Babette often asks the party if they want to join her (although she never really says what it is she is doing), and each time the party refuses. Babette often says that she respects the power and intelligence of the party, and she seems to be genuine with her praise. Tom is not caught up in the flattery, and tries (three times) to cast Astral Sphere at Babette, succeeding on the third try, only to be thwarted by her Steel Thought talent. In response to Tom’s actions, Babette puts him in a Stone Cage.

Out of nowhere, the party gets a Message from Taylor (who is still in Ishkarat): “Hey guys you might want to get back here NOW!!!!” Almost immediately after that message, everyone (except Tom) hears Chumana “scream” in their head! And then another Message from Taylor: “There is a baby dragon flying around the city killing people!!!”

Babette notices the startled party members, and with a wry smile says “Would you like a quick ride back to Ishkarat?”
Mike asks if it require them to be marked, and Babette says ‘no’. Mike follows up with “suppose I want to get marked…” – to which Babette raises an eyebrow and appears to be very intrigued by the idea.

“One more chance – I’m opening a path to Ishkarat right now – you are free to join me” says Babette, waving her hand in a small circle, moving faster and faster and growing the circle larger each revolution. The pinprick of light flickers into existence, and then begins to grow. Mike decides to spring at Babette, swings his axe, and hits her for 19 points of damage. He tries a second time, but she is able to avoid the blow. Maria tries a Razor Orb, but Babette blocks the spell with Steel Thought. Betsey tries Stop Right There, but again Steel Thought prevents. Sabrina tries an Icy Mace and Chain, and that hits for 32 damage!

Mike attempts to tackle Babette as she walks into the light, but unfortunately he fails badly. Babette smacks him with a wooden rod (hey – where did that come from?) for 25 damage (after armor). Babette disappears into the light.

Messages now go back and forth:
Party to Taylor: “What’s happening?”
Taylor to Party: “Baby dragon attacking people only, breathing fire/acid combination.”
Party to Taylor: “Where is Chumana?”
Taylor to Party: “No where to be seen.”
Party to Vaare: “Can you help us get to Ishkarat fast?”
Vaare to Party: “I will work on getting you transportation, but no guarantee….”

The party starts the forced march (though night) back to Throal. As they walk, they pass three of the caravan group and Perskell (who is still naked!). The four are told to go get the caravan and bring it back to Throal immediately. They all respond “YES SIR” and start back towards the wagon. As they go out of sight, one of them shouts back “Did you find the secret compartment?” Thinking quickly, Sabrina shouts back “YES!”. The last they hear from the four is swearing….

The party arrives back in Throal at sunrise. They are pretty tired – but Vaare has come through, and there is an airship waiting for them. Tom asks “what are we going to do once we get back to Ishkarat?”, and Maria snarkily replies “why don’t you come up with a plan and we’ll ignore it!”

They sleep on the air ship, which gets them to Ishkarat the next day. As the ship descends, they don’t see any people outside at all. They land outside the southeast wall, and ask the ship to go to the water dock just in case (the ship can stay for today, but then they have to head back to Throal).

They enter the city at the East gate (which they notice to be totally unguarded), and they see that the local houses and buildings are intact, but there are scorch marks on roads where bodies have been burned. Mike shouts “is anyone here?” and a voice from inside a building responds “is it safe?” – Mike continues with “we don’t know, stay inside” – and just as he finishes the sentence, he (and Maria and Sabrina) pick up the sound of wings flapping. Taylor shouts out from a nearby tower “here it comes!”. Maria puts up an Astral Sight and can easily tell that the dragon’s pattern looks like burnt spaghetti. There is a short combat (mostly trying to avoid some nasty fire/acid from the dragon). Betsey gets Stop Right There to work, causing the dragon to crash into the ground. The party is able to tie up the dragon and eventually get it to calm down.

KiLi arrives on the scene and looks at the dragon. She confirms that its pattern is completely messed up. A Message is sent to Vaare asking for help in any way (beastmasters, Throal Library, Chumana (who is still unresponsive), dragon experts, whatever he can find). KiLi suggests that they should bring the dragon to a holding cell for now, and then maybe back to the Kaer ………

July 25 2015 Game Session

After defeating Bob, the party drags his sorry butt to Ishkarat to have Lurza (the Nethermancer) use Experience Death – just to see if she could get any good information. She suggests that he was effectively a Construct – he had no blemishes on the Horror Marks in his pattern, and it appeared that he willingly gave himself up to the Horror.

They decide to head towards the Great Library of Throal, but they pickup a new party member – a windling named Auri. She seems nice enough, but there is definitely something ‘different’ about her….

After four days on a boat, they reach the western edge of the Throal Mountains. They decide to disembark and take the road less travelled. They are ambushed by flying creatures that Auri calls “shadowmants”. If not for Sabrina’s new found talent that healed poison, that battle could have been much worse.

They arrive at The Library and begin looking for information:

Party> Want to look for information about The Twins.

RESULTS> You enlist the help of two Librarians (Ahemy and Scattill) who have together spent 10 years in the Library helping people find and and all info on Horrors. They are the local experts and they’ve never heard or read about a pair of Horrors working together, never mind “related”.

It takes three days and many dead-ends, but Ahemy finally finds something useful. A written record from during The Scourge (which is very rare indeed) from a dwarf named Loran Redstone:

“I don’t know if this document will survive me, but I think it is worth the time and danger to put pen to paper. I believe I have discovered something that no one else has. I have been under ‘attack’ for about 10 days and I’m convinced that the attack is coming from two different sources – nay – two different EVIL sources. It is as if I am being torn apart from the inside. I can hear laughter from two different voices. I can hear language being spoken in two different tones (although I do not know the language). I feel a wave of pain in my head, and then a gentle breeze washes it away.”

“I have tried to focus on something tangible to write down, but all I see in my head are divided circles bouncing against one another. If I concentrate very very hard, I can somewhat get the circles to arrange themselves into letters – they form half-words “ahk” and “may” – and then they tumble away into meaningless. "

“I can only surmise that these two syllables might be part of the True Names of these creatures. No – I think I’m too close! Nooooooooooooooo!”

MORE RESULTS> General information shows that knowing the True Name of a Horror gives you a significant advantage in a fight. Sometimes that helps to dampen the Horror’s powers, other times it forces the Horror into fighting another battle to keep It from being pulled into Otherspace, and others it simply weakens the Horror mentally.

Party> information regarding Kaar Volok – if it ever opened, or if it was destroyed, and any clues to where it really might have been located.

RESULTS> There are many references to Kaer Volok. Each and every one of them indicate that the Kaer was located outside of Ishkarat. Whatever these people did, they did and excellent job of hiding their true location (even better than Parlainth). Maybe the size of the Kaer helped (documents indicate there only were a thousand or so inside).

Maria> Would like to find out more about being a Horror Scholar. Plus looking for someone to learn new spells from :).

RESULTS> Ahemy and Scattill would be happy to train you to become a Horror Scholar! They don’t get a lot of volunteers for this discipline (gee, I wonder why) and every time they try to convince the Head Librarian to ‘advertise’, their request is met with a stare that could melt stone.

Additional information:
*>Ishkarat has been established for about 800 years. It pre-dates The Scourge. There are many records about what the city was like before – food and water were plentiful, the city was peaceful (but somewhat isolated from other cities, as air travel had not yet been developed), and most of the inhabitants were elves. There are some stories that a great migration of elves headed towards The Blood Wood out of a ‘religious movement’, but it was a peaceful event and those who left or stayed did so willingly and without coercion. When The Scourge was imminent, most people left the town and went into separate Kaers. There is no known Kaer that was within 4 days travel – except for the one that you found.

*>Research confirms that the “half-words” might not be words, but syllables. The most likely answer (and the scariest) is that those syllables are part of the Horrors True Names. Generally speaking, if you ever find out a Horror’s True Name, you had better kill it quickly. Chances are you won’t live long enough to do anything with that knowledge – and that is VERY powerful knowledge to have.

*>The Therans have been (at least of recent) very happy to stay away from Throal and the cities of the North. This party has not had any encounters with Thera in the past.

*>The party has been to Parlainth before – to defeat their first Horror. They really didn’t do much research there, as there isn’t much to do. However, it might become a VERY lucrative place to setup shop for a Horror Scholar (when retirement comes along). :)

May 23, 2015 Game Session

After a brief discussion about what to do next, the party decides that they have found everything there is to find on this level, and they should proceed down into the darkness. Meat Shield Mike (I’m starting to like that name more and more) goes first, hoping that his heat sight vision will help him find things. It doesn’t. There’s nothing to find – just darkness.

Until ….. he takes one step too many ….

… and then the area lights up. They find themselves in a big chamber where the stone walls have been colored crimson, and the walls and floor are almost like glass. It looks like there has been some serious heat applied here, and quite often. They also see a collection of nine statues which are at the beginning of nine short and narrow areas.

And then there’s Bob. That’s not his real name of course, but that’s what the party calls him.

“Hi gang. I’ve been following / waiting for you. I’m ready to fight now, and I hope you are too.”

Being very happy to finally have a chance to take this guy down, the party willingly agrees to battle – until the 4 beasts jump out from behind the statues and start wailing on people. Bob stays far away and casts some spells (even causing a Wound to Maria!). And the beasts have Mirror Image! Mike gets knocked unconcious, but is dragged to safety by Taylor (who is almost down herself). After taking care of the last beast, the party concentrates on Bob. A few more rounds later, Bob is pretty dead.

A short rest later (and some much needed Heated Food), Mike heads towards the large set of doors in the ‘back’ of the chamber. He pulls out the set of keys that they found upstairs, and tries the last key – and it works! Behind the doors is a box – about 2 foot cube. Maria tries to use Astral Sight on the box and is temporarily blinded. Kevin (being the least hurt member of the party) decides to open the box – and inside is a dragon egg. Hurray!

They drag the box out of the kaer and try another message to Chumanna. This one actually works (yes, all the messages that were tried from inside the kaer were blocked), and she arrives minutes later in a state of mild euphoria. She promises to take the egg to her hiding spot and revisit the party in 6 to 8 weeks (at which point she believes she will be a mother).

The party returns to Ishkarat for much deserved rest and spending of Legend Points. :)